Workaholics Anonymous, a support group in a similar vein to the more well-known Alcoholics Anonymous is in Australia - and growing.

After groups recently began in Sydney and Canberra, a Melbourne group will hold its first gathering on Monday.

"Being a workaholic is the celebrated addiction," says Jax, [not her real name] the convener of the Melbourne chapter of Workaholics Anonymous. "Work is the drug, the same as alcohol."

The movement follows the famed 12-step recovery pattern of Alcoholics Anonymous and encourages recovering workaholics to cut back on how much they do in an effort to restore balance to their lives.

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Jax, a self-employed woman in her mid 40s, said she realised she had a problem when, 18 months ago, she physically crashed.

"I thought I had always been superwoman and able to make anything happen," she said. "I always thought there was more to be doing."

But combined with minimal sleep was an unshakeable feeling that it was impossible to go work. "I could do bits and pieces but I really just wanted to hang out in bed."

Nigel, 24, who works in software development, became involved when he realised that his work – and how much time he put into it – was stopping him from enjoying life.

At his busiest, Nigel [not his real name] was running four businesses and completing a PhD. Since becoming involved in Workaholics Anonymous, Nigel has given up his PhD and cut the hours in his working week by half, from 70 each week to 35.

"I didn't really have any other friends unless they were in some way involved in work," he said.

"I was being almost disdainful of people who would make time for life."

Nigel finds that he now sleeps more and is healthier.

He criticised the culture in many workplaces, which he says glorifies working for more than 12 hours each day.

Jax said that although adjusting to a lesser workload was difficult at times, she had found the benefits to be enormous.

"I haven't been in that crazy work-attracted place for months," she said, adding that remembering to turn her phone off each night had been an enormous help.

Monday's open meeting begins at 5.45pm in Uniting Church meeting room, Elm Street, North Melbourne. For more information, email workaholicsanon@hotmail.com.